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A. G; CAMPBELL.

RAILWAY FOOT GUARD.

, No. 423.511. Patented Mar. 18, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

ALFRED G. CAMPBELL, OF SHERBROOKE, QUEBEC, CANADA.

RAILWAY FOOT-G UARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,511, dated March 18, 1890.

Application filed June 15, 1889. $erial No. 314,327. (No model.)

To all whom it 11mg concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED G. CAMPBELL, a citizen of Canada, residing at Sherbrooke, in the county of Sherbrooke and Province of Quebec, Canada, have invented a new and useful Railway-Frog Guard, of which the following is a specification.

It is well known that many persons have met with serious and often fatal injuries by having caught a foot in a railway-frog and being unable to remove it before being run over by an approaching train.

The object of my invention is to remove this danger by providing a railway-frog with guards in such a manner that it will be impossible for the foot of any person to be caught therein. I attain this object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which i '7 Figure 1 is a perspective view of a railwayfrog, showing the guard in position against the side of the rail; and Fig. 2,a cross-section of the rails and guards, showing the method of fastening the guard to the rail.

Similarletters refer to'similar parts thro ughout the several views.

e In the accompanying drawings, A is the rail, and B the guard, which is fastened to its side. The guard B is a thin casting of iron, which is beveled at the ends to fit the various angles of the frog. As the rails are likely to vary slightly in size and shape, the guardB is made thin on its upper edge, and is provided on the side next the rail with two bosses d and 6, so that it may fit any rail. Both said bosses slope inwardly toward the rail A, so that Wh atever the height of the rail may be the upper boss cl will form a shoulder against the upper flange of the rail, and the lower boss e willv form a shoulder against the lower flange of the rail. This result might be obtained by making the guard B thicker and shapingit to the rail A 5 but it would be much heavier, and therefore more cumbersome and expensive, than if cast as shown. The upper edge of the guard B is brought to a thin edge, so that it may come well up to the top of the rail A, and

. still not interfere with the flanges of the carwheels.

To fasten the guard B to the rail A a hole is bored through the guard and through the web of the rail. A bolt 0, provided with a suitable head and nut, is inserted in the hole and drawn up tightly, thus fastening the guard firmly against the rail.

The guard B may be made with the outside entirely smooth or with the lower part corrugated, as shown in the accompanying drawings. Then the guard B is corrugated and the rails are near together,it may be fastened by a T-spike t, the spike being driven into a tie between the rails and each arm of the spike entering the corrugations of the guard of each rail. (See Fig. 2.) The lower edge of the guard B is provided with grooves or notches, as shown, to afford space for the spikes with whichthe rails are fastened to the ties. As the rail A is wider at the bottom than at the top, when the guard B is fastened against it, the guard will form an inclined plane slanting toward the rail. I prefer to make the guard B of malleable iron, so that when a rail is winged or curved, as shown in Fig. 1, the guard may be bent to fitit. This is necessary to keep the guard out of the way of the can wheels.

When the foot of any person is caughtin a railway-frog, it is because the rails are, near together or approach each other, and the foot is slipped between the flanges of the rails, and in making efforts to remove it the footis frequently pressed more firmly between the rails; but with my invention it will be seen that the sides of the rails facing each other will present two smooth surfaces, or surfaces smooth except for the slight vertical corrugagations, slanting or flaring outwardly as they approach the top of the rail, and between which it will be impossible for the foot to be caught.

I am aware that heretofore guards for the inside of rails have been used, such being the a The railway-frog guard B,having its upt and rail A, substantially as shown and deper edge t-hin,as shown, and having means, as scribed. the bosses d and e, to adapt it to the size and 5. The guard 13, provided with bosses dand shape of the railA, substantially as described. 6 and having its lower portion grooved and 3. The guard B, having its lower portion I corrugated, as shown, in combination .with

corrugated, as shown, in combination with means, as bolt t, for fastening said guard to means, as bolt 25, for fastening said guard to the rail A, substantially as described.

'4. The combination, in a railway-frog guard, of the guard B, having its lower portion corrugated and grooved, as shown, with the bolt the rail A, substantially as described.

ALFRED G. CAMPBELL.

Vitnesses:v

D. THOMAS, NEWLAND CoBURN. 

